A Pair of Broken Soulmates
by Lana.NCIS
Summary: A three shot story deciphering how S11 could go for Tony and Ziva given that Cote will not be returning. It tells of how they decide to finally get their act together and the events following. Hope you enjoy!
1. Falling Apart

The sweltering heat, the mesmerizing beauty, the lure of hidden secrets.

Memories arose inside her, rushing to her mind adorn with boiling tears. She was now here, in the hot Israeli desert, after resigning from NCIs and forced back to Israel. Still after months she yearned for the navy yard, to be happy with her family.

She wondered how Gibbs was, her adopted father, she hoped he was safe.

She had lost too much, she could not afford to lose another loved one.

Mcgee and Abby, how were they? They had been in touch yet not for the past week. Both were struggling to adapt.

And tony, well tony. She missed him dearly, she ached for his protection, for his LOVE.

_It was not fair._

_It should not have turned out this way._

Ziva turned, facing shops full of colored fabric, hard stone walls looming up. She moved closer, winding between crowds of flustered people. Faint strands of a Hebrew melody wafted in the breeze, the sound enticing and luring.

Above, the boiling red sun burned down, its rays submerging Israeli's in unbelievable heat.

She knew Gibbs was away in a far and dangerous place, risking his life to escape Parsons plans.

Similar to her.

Neither had had a choice, for him it was that or become a fugitive, for her it was return to Israel and lose her honored citizenship or be prosecuted in America. They believed she was a spy, a backstabbing assassin. Well now if given the opportunity, she would literally stab them in the back at first chance, preferably with the lethal dagger hidden by her ankle.

Ziva entered a dark shop, white sheets hung upon the windows, the ancient walls cracked and mangled. Carefully, she picked up a delicate ring, the diamond sparkling as the facet caught a spectrum of placed it over the fourth finger of her left hand, and Tony's once uttered words washed over her.

_'Looks good on you.'_

She remembered it perfectly, she would never forget a moment with tony. She really did wish she could talk to him again, if only making contact wasn't so hard. Mossad naturally watched her every move, they were hidden in the dancing shadows, but she had sensed them, she sensed them now, she sensed them all the time.

She returned the ring to the counter, delicately placing it down.

She missed NCIS, the one place she had truly felt home.

It had been her safe place, where she had been happy.

She wanted to go back and she wanted to go back and see Tony.

Ziva sighed, recognizing she needed to hear Tony's voice or suffocate. She exited the shop discretely, she needed no more unwanted attention.

Once in a darkened alleyway, she found her phone, and pressing 1 on the speed dial, she listened impatiently to each ring.

Looking around, she observed her surroundings, high building walls seemingly reaching to the sky and the far away sound of children playing.

She was alone.

_ALONE._

Aht lo levat Tony had said a life time ago. Now she was calling him.

And suddenly he answered, and with a wave of only recently explainable relief and happiness to her, she heard the sound of his voice.

'Ziva.' unmistakably he was happy.

She_ would_ tell him _now._

But he got there first.

'I have to tell you something Zi.' he said.

She paused, hesitant but deciding she had to tell him now, first and immediately.

'No Tony, I have to tell _you_ something.'

'Okay Zi, go ahead.' tony replied also hesitant.

She took a deep breath.

'tony, I love y-'

And the alleyway exploded with a deafening sound, walls crumbling down, the flattening granite immediately burying Ziva.

She would be with Tali now.

With Rivka.

With Eli.

With Ari.

They were reunited again.

Fire exploded from every angle, thick dark smoke rising to the heavens.

'Ziva!' Tony yelled from the other side of the line.

But everything was silent.

Utter, complete silence.

Only the sound of his anguished yells could be heard, echoing from the phone stuck tight in a crevice of fallen rocks.

Eventually people began to scream. Some in agony for themselves, other in agony over other.

Eventually sirens began to approach, their wailing splitting the cacophony.

Eventually Tony's tortured screams turned to broken sobbing.

And eventually the found her body, bent and broken, and at some point the eventually organized for Ziva David to rest in peace beneath the olive trees with her family.

But never, ever did tony once forget her.

Never did he move on.

Never did a moment pass where he did not yearn for his ninja.

'I love you too Ziva.' he would often say.

But Ziva was forever gone.


	2. 1000 Rivers

His watery eyes looked up to the dismal heavens, his vision blurred with streaking tears.

Briefly, he wondered if she was up there watching him.

He would never know.

Composing himself momentarily he soldiered on.

'Zi was the most amazing woman I had ever met. Her power, her beauty, her strength, her kindness.'

Inside Tony his heart throbbed again, the depth of his loss making itself thoroughly known.

And he sobbed. Because for Ziva David Tony would cry 1000 rivers. Tear tracks continuously shone down his face relentlessly.

Again attempting to compose himself enough to talk, he rested his palms over the table with his notes, bracing himself against it.

'For 8 years our lives were intertwined, she was in my life, I was in hers. We survived devastating obstacles, we helped each other, we looked out for each other.'

_God dammit, why did this have to be so hard?_

'In the last year we started edging closer to each other, really caring for each other, sharing things that really mattered.'

He looked up again, seeing nothing but knowing the faces watching also had tears cascading down their cheeks.

'She was my partner, my friends, my supporter, my favorite person in the world.'

_Now it was time to say it. After everything, now it was time._

'There was one thing I never told her though. I was getting closer to it before she was taken away from me.'

He could practically feel eyes burning through him.

He spoke up, louder.

'Ziva David was also my soul mate. I loved her. _I love her._ And there will never be a moment where I will stop loving her.'

Damn the tears. _Why couldn't they just go away_? He was almost done now.

'Now I've finally said it, but its too later.' he continued painstakingly. 'She is gone and I am left behind. And the only thing I know is that I will never, ever stop loving her.'

And then he broke down in front of everyone completely and sobbed his heart out.

_Because she was gone._

_And he was not._


	3. Regrets in Love

**AN: **I know its been a while, but I wrote this and decided to add it on as an epilogue of sorts. Please review! (:

* * *

He remembered her every day.

Every hour. Every minute. Every second.

She _never_ left him. And he knew she _never_ would.

They were soulmates, and when one is brutally teared away, you do not simply 'move on.' Her curly hair that shone in the gold sunlight, her bottomless brown eyes that made his heart weak. Her stupid messed up idioms that he secretly loved, her presence that lit up a room.

He would _never_ move on. He would _never_ forget her.

And he never got to tell her he loved her. He will never get to kiss her in a searing sunset. He will never get to dance maniacally with her in the pouring rain. He will never get to watch the crashing waves upon the shore at an impromtu beach picnic. And he will never get to sit with her and watch a tearful opera. His beautiful ninja, his one of a kind beauty.

His _soulmate_. And she was gone.

People say life is not fair. But the thing is, neither is death.

And now Tony knew it.

* * *

_I love you Ziva David._


	4. Epilogue

He'd lost another daughter.

**AN: **Hey! So I found this and decided to post it so I wouldn't just be hanging on to it anymore. This story is officially Au I think now because of course (thank god) Ziva doesn't die. This little fic didn't really fit anywhere else and I didn't want to make it a one shot, so I added it on here. Here ya go!

* * *

The pain was unbearable.

His beautiful, wonderful, perfect Ziva.

He'd lost enough loved ones, Kelly alone tore his heart apart and melted the broken fragments.

But not Ziver too.

And Gibbs sat there, alone in his basement staring at nothing attempting to drown himself in bourbon. He took another gulp, the liquid searing down his throat, and he set the bottle back down with a sharp clump that shattered the empty silence.

A bomb. He'd seen the news footage. And Tony had been on the phone to her at the time. Well, Tony was distraught, anguished, man did his boy need help. Gibbs knew Tony and Ziva were soulmates. Year after year he became surer and surer, until lately he was considering to just tell them to get on with it.

He'd lost the chance now.

Just like he'd lost her.

8 bloody years. He'd known her for 8 years, and since the moment she shot Ari saving his life exactly where he sat now, Gibbs had irrevocably formed an unexplainable bond with her. And she had become his daughter, him her father.

They were too similar, him and Ziva. Like broken shards of a whole, they agreed perfectly with each other, fitting in with each others beliefs. They were the perfect team.

He couldn't understand how this could've happen.

The poor girl had suffered through so many struggles, why had this happened? She had not deserved it, hell, she deserved a fairy tale ending perfect to the core.

Gibbs continued to reminisce, he really didn't understand how this could've happen, he would never understand. Her presence was ever there, lingering in his thoughts.

And still he sat there unmoving, overwhelmed by this tragedy.

And he did for many nights, wallowing in his grief for Ziva David.

But eventually there was one night when things changed a bit.

As usual, the night wasted away quickly, sun deciding to split through his dusty basement windows too early.

The rays spread across the room like always before, but this time as they did Gibbs began to feel a new sense of hope, or hope that there could be hope. Ziver was gone and while he would continue to mourn her for the rest of his life, and remember her forever, he would honour her memory the one way Leroy Jethro Gibbs could do better than everyone.

And so he started to carve the wood.


End file.
